Kick Out Customers Using a Welcome

The minister agrees to the young couple’s request to conduct the wedding ceremony in his church, although with one condition: “I don’t know the two of you very well, and I must emphasize that for me to marry the two of you in my church, you must abstain from sex during your engagement.”
     The couple promptly agree. Then when the couple returns a few weeks before the wedding date to discuss final plans, the minister checks, “Have the two of you been chaste, as you promised?”
     The couple both look down with shame. “No, sir,” says the prospective groom. “You see, my beautiful fiancée here dropped a box of light bulbs this morning. When she bent over to pick up the light bulbs, I looked at her, was overcome with lust, and both of us immediately lost all control. I’m sorry.”
     “I’m sorry, too.” says the minister, “However, I most certainly will not allow you to be married in my church!”
     As the young couple get up to leave, the man moans, “This has been one terrible day. Being kicked out of the church now, and this morning, kicked out of that hardware store.”
     There are situations in which ministers, hardware store owners, or you will fire a customer. Do it with acknowledgement that the customer could repent.
     Sometimes the departure is because the customer is disgruntled. Doing what you can to keep the relationship alive is still good business. Sometimes you’re no longer able to adequately satisfy a customer who’s been frequenting your store. It’s time for a breakup. When this happens, the emotions often include shame and insecurity, according to researchers at University of Western Ontario and Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.
     The consequences, the researchers found, spring from this ashamed, insecure former customer deciding to hurt the business by spreading as much negative word-of-mouth as possible. The root of it all is the customer’s belief that the retailer has betrayed the customer’s trust in them. The loss for the retailer is from the customers’ future purchases, but potentially much more than that from others who are influenced by the negative reviews.
     Make the last memory the person has of your store one of gracious respect. After they get away long enough to relax their shame and insecurity and to correct their belief that you’ve betrayed their trust, they might return.
     And you’ll welcome them again.

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Dissolve Disgruntlement Before Goodbye